Ævar’s Lupin tea

General Information on use and contentsThis tea has been used for decades by a countless number of people, young and old, and to my knowledge has never caused any problems. Some dislike the taste of it – it is very peculiar but not very strong. You can mix it with fresh fruit juices, berry juice, ginger infusion or something else, which is tasty and healthy, if you find it difficult to drink it by itself.

While the tea was on offer before it used to be made ready for use, meaning it was steeped and bottled. The product we are now offering here is not steeped. These are packages of dried herbs, which should last 10 days to 3 weeks, depending on how much is consumed. It is possible to steep more than one package at a time and bottle the liquid (f. ex. in 2l plastic bottles) and freeze it. This saves time and work and for people who drink this regularly over a period of time this method might be particularly practical.

The cancer patients who use this tea on the other hand, should use it as fresh as possible, not more than 2 days old. They can split the package of herbs into smaller units and steep with less water and so always have fresh tea. They can start by drinking 3-5 dl. daily for the first 7-10 days and then reduce the amount to 3 dl. daily for the remaining time.

Some have used this tea in order to maintain general good health while others have used it after a diagnosis with serious illness, reoccurring illness and/or when a weakened immune system is indicated. The most people have used it alongside medication and radiation treatment for cancer. The tea has a mild blood thinning effect and people on blood thinning medication should keep in mind to not drink much of this tea. The normal amount for an adult is 3dl. per day.

The following text is written by Ævar Johannesson, the founder of the Lupine-tea. It is an excerpt from his memoires, which were published in the book “Sótt á brattan”, 2007 by Bokautgafa Skjaldborg (in Icelandic).

Information on the herbs contained in the lupin tea:

Radix lupinus nootkatensis

The lupin belongs to the legume family (beans) and is related to f.ex. shamrock and vetch (Vicia cracca). All bean plants live in symbiosis with bacteria, which live on the plant´s roots and form nodules. These bacteria process nitrogen from the atmosphere, which they use themselves. They produce more than they need, and this is used by the plants.When the lupin has used all the nitrogen it needs, there is still some left. This goes into the soil as nitrogen salts, which other plants can use.

On the root hair of lupin are glands, which emit acetic acid. The acetic acid dissolves rock granules so that minerals and phosphor from granules and sand in the earth become accessible as nutrients for plants. When lupin is planted into basalt sand it grows well and within a few years it produces soil, which is rich in nitrogen, phosphor and minerals, which other plants can then use.

Root of the Alaska Lupin (Radix lupinius nootkatensis)

Most plants in the family of beans produce chemical compounds, which are called isoflavons. These compounds have a mild estrogen activity and can connect with estrogen receptors in cells and therefore replace stronger estrogen hormones like estradiol. The important difference is that stronger estrogen encourages some types of cancer while the weaker estrogens reduce or hinder the same type of cancer. Some bean plants, f. ex. red clover, have been used directly as a home remedy for cancer.

Research at the University of Iceland has also shown that essence of root of lupin contains a powerful substance for strengthening the immune system. What this substance is and if it is known is still unclear. It probably is some from of polisaccharide.

Angelica archangelica

Angelica is an age-old medicinal plant and spice. It is presumed that there was a considerable export of angelica from the Nordic countries around the time when Iceland was settled. Angelica from Nordic countries was considered better than from southern countries. Perhaps Icelandic angelica was an export commodity in the age of the sagas.

Angelica archangelica is an age-old medicinal plant and spice.

In most European languages, apart from the Nordic languages, the name of angelica refers to an angel, which a monk or sister in some cloister saw in the days of a pestilence outbreak in Europe. This angel was holding an angelica in its hands and instructed the monk or sister to make an infusion and drink it. Then the pest would not harm him or her. This came to pass and all the others in the cloister died of pestilence. Since then this herb has been called angelica, which can be translated as angel´s herb.

This folk tale suggests that this story is older than Christianity in the Nordic countries, because none of the Nordic languages uses the word angelica as name for this herb. The story suggests very much that there was a strong belief in its medicinal power and even that a certain divine protection came from it.

In the last decade a lot of research has been conducted at the University of Iceland in order to find the medicinal component of angelica. It is probably the most research undertaken here into one particular plant. It has emerged that angelica contains very interesting organic chemical compounds, amongst others several types of furanocoumarins, which have a strong biological effect.

Some of these compounds seem to affect cancer cells. They destroy them or hinder their multiplication, without detrimental effect on healthy cells. In angelica there have also been found compounds that suppress viruses as well as substances which encourage the immune system, alongside other substances which to describe here would take too long.

The medicinal remedy Angelica was the first angelica product, which was produced commercially here in Iceland.

Angelica silvestris

Silvestris is a close relative of the archangelica but still there is quite a difference in their medicinal substances. Some substances are the same but some, f. ex. the strongest substances with regards to cancer, are contained in very different amounts. Very effective substances against cancer have been found in both plants, but they are no the same substances.

Angelica silvestris, a close relative of the Angelica archangelica, but with considerably different contents of medicinal substances.

In Angelica archangelica the active substances are mainly furanocoumarins and there mainly imperatorin and xanthotoxin named as some of the strongest. They also reduce swelling. Other coumarin substances work f. ex. as pain reducing, some work especially for the nervous system. Some of these substances are in both types of angelica. The most powerful substance in the Angelica silvestris is not the coumarin but a substance called bisabol-angelon. This seems many times as powerful in the destruction of emerging cancer cells than the most powerful coumarin substance.

I am very hopeful regarding this substance if there will be funding for more research. The substance has one problem, which is that it deteriorates quite quickly when dissolved in water, so it needs to be used quickly once it has been made ready. Then testing on animals will have to be undertaken in order to research how much should be taken and if it can be harmful in large quantities. There is some bisol-angelon in the lupine tea but maybe much more could be used of Angelica silvestris than I am now using.

The benefit of bisabol-angelon is that it is easily soluble and needs little infusion time – and this is in all likelihood a very effective cancer treatment.

Rumex longifolius

Dockyard dock is listed in most herbal remedy books as blood cleansing and sometimes as enhancing urine production. New research suggests that dock and related species can slow down and hinder an enzyme called lactate dehydrogenase. This enzyme is necessary for anaerobic energy production to take place in the body´s cells. This could be important in connection with cancer. It has been said that cancer cells get most of their energy in this way, not using oxygen but a process, which is based on fermentation.

Healthy cells by contrast generate their energy mainly through “breathing”, a process, which uses oxygen, and therefore would not come to harm. If this theory is correct, then plants of the dock family, like f. ex. dockyard dock, red sorrel and rhubarb, are very interesting in the context of cancer treatment. Be as it may, red sorrel is one of the main herbs in the cancer herbal treatment Essiac, which is used a lot in the US and other places.

Parmelia saxatilis

Parmelia saxatilis is a lichen which grows on stones and rarely also on birch tree trunks. In my opinion this lichen is one of the most interesting herbal remedies, which we have. Not foremost because it cures cancer, which I doubt it can do by itself, but more so because of its powerful effect on digestion and much more.

Lichen Parmelia saxatilis, which grows on stones and rarely also on birch tree trunks. In my opinion this lichen is one of the most interesting herbal remedies, which we have.

There are almost no references in books to lichen with regards to medicinal use. Probably herbalist Þorunn, the mother of Erlingur Fillipusson and his siblings, were the first to use lichen as an herbal treatment in Iceland. Her descendants have since used lichen much and probably everybody working with herbal treatments here in Iceland has used it at some time.

Lichen probably has inhibiting effect on most common bacteria and fungi, which attack the digestive system. It can well be that it hinders and kills the Helicobacter pylori, (stomach ulcers), a bacterium found in the stomach, which I don´t find unlikely. I would like to stress here that I have no medical proof for any of this, only many years of experience both by myself and others, which have used this wonderful herbal remedy.

The research by Steinþor Sigurdsson at the University of Iceland shows that lichen has a strong effect on the immune system, which is probably due to some saccharides contained in the lichen.

To sum it up

I have given here an overview over the herbs contained in the tea pack, which I have been producing for almost 15 years. Like I have said before I received the recipe for this tea in a mysterious way from Black-Hawk and Eggert Briem, a doctor, which had then already been dead for a few years. Much about the properties and ingredients, which is known now, was at that time unknown. Most information was first obtained through the research done by Sigmundur Gudbjarnason and his colleagues at the University of Iceland. This research is far from finished and it is quite possible that we will get more exciting information in the years to come. In my opinion it is necessary to research some plants even more than has been done until now. This kind of research is expensive and will only be conducted if the funds are available, and the funds disappear quickly with this kind of work. It is also necessary to develop methods to put the substances into pills or capsules, which is essential in order to be able to store and to sell the product. A lot has been done in this regard but more needs to be done to make it feasible. New research on Angelica archangelica shows, that its leaves contains a lot of substances, which work against cancer cells. These are different substances from the ones found in its seeds. I have therefore recently used both the leaves and the seeds of the plant for the tea. I am extremely interested in researching bisabol-angelon in Angelica silvestris and if it is possible to give the substance a longer shelf life, f.ex. by drying it or mixing the extract of the seeds with substances which hinder the harmful effect of oxidation. But first it will have to be proven that this substance is a cancer cure. There is much to suggest this and I believe it will be proven. Then animal testing will have to be conducted, f. ex. on mice, and checked in which dosage it should be taken and if too much can be harmful. If all this were to be done I am sure that we would see a result, which would become widely known. More about the lupin tea and its effect on different diseases can be found in the memoires of Ævar Johannesson “Sótt á brattan”.